Tag Archives: shortlisted

A slap in the face! Lennon's anger at Celtic stars' absence from PFA shortlist

By
Stephen Mcgowan

PUBLISHED:

12:26 GMT, 25 April 2013

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UPDATED:

23:12 GMT, 25 April 2013

Neil Lennon has vowed to boycott the PFA Scotland awards dinner — after branding the absence of any Celtic stars from the Player of the Year shortlist ‘abysmal’.

A vote by the nation’s professional players ahead of the Players’ Union dinner will see Motherwell’s Michael Higdon, Inverness Caley Thistle’s Andrew Shinnie, Aberdeen’s Niall McGinn and Hibernian’s Leigh Griffiths battle it out for the top prize.

Irate that the feats of his players in winning the SPL title and reaching the last 16 of the Champions League have earned no recognition from their peers, however, Lennon — who is likely to be shortlisted for Manager of the Year — will vote with his feet on May 5 by staying away from the annual Glasgow dinner.

Three out of four: (from left) Niall McGinn, Andrew Shinnie and Michael Higdon are up for the PFA Scotland award

‘I won’t go, no,’ said the Celtic boss.

‘The players haven’t discussed that yet. There weren’t many of them in yesterday, so I’ll speak to them tomorrow and see how they feel about it.

‘I’m surprised to say the least. Are you voting for the best player in Scotland or are you voting for the most improved player

‘I have no axe to grind with any of the nominees — I think that they have all had fine seasons.

‘But for none of our first-team players to be on the senior shortlist is bewildering to say the least.

‘I think the outcome of those votes yesterday belittles all those efforts from the players. It is abysmal.’

Not good enough: Neil Lennon has hit out after his Celtic players were overlooked for the PFA Scotland award

Celtic players have won the PFA Scotland award in the main category in six of the last seven years. Of the view that their peers have taken his side’s domestic dominance for granted in the absence of Rangers, however, Lennon describes the perceived snub to his team as a ‘slap in the face’.

‘The players are not happy. They feel as if they’ve been slapped in the face, almost. There was a bit of ill-feeling there yesterday,’ he said.

‘I do feel the influence you media guys have — and I’m not blaming you guys — with the nonsense about “one-horse race”, “foregone conclusion” and “no competition” all plays a part in people taking the club, or the players, for granted.

‘Hooper’s got 28 goals this season and
people keep telling me that he’s not having his best season. But he’s
two goals short of 30, which is a pretty decent return for a
24-year-old.’

‘We made the last 16 of the Champions League with 10 points, which is a record for a Scottish team.

‘And on a budget which was very limited compared to other clubs in the past — so these players have performed heroically.

‘Semi-final of the League Cup, Scottish Cup Final, championship … I don’t think they could have done much more this season, really, and for that not to be recognised by their peers is very disappointing.’

Aberdeen midfielder Jim Bett was the last non-Old Firm player to collect the accolade, back in 1989-90.

Gerrard shortlisted for England player of the year (er… is there anyone else)

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UPDATED:

18:58 GMT, 7 December 2012

England skipper Steven Gerrard heads the five-man shortlist for the Three Lions' 2012 player of the year.

Gerrard became only the sixth England player to reach 100 caps in Sweden last month and was regarded as one of the stand-out performers at Euro 2012, when Roy Hodgson's team were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Italy.

The 32-year-old won the award in 2007, and has finished in the top three on three other occasions, highlighting his consistency over an international career that now extends over 12 years.

Centurion: Steven Gerrard celebrated his 100th England cap last month

Gerrard is joined on the list by Liverpool team-mate Glen Johnson and also Joe Hart and Ashley Cole, who won it in 2010.

In addition, Manchester United's Danny Welbeck is also amongst the nominees after emerging as top scorer in 2012 with five goals.

Supporters can vote for their choice on www.thefa.com, with the winner due to be confirmed at an awards' dinner at St George's Park on Sunday, February 3.

Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis is among the three finalists shortlisted for the 2012 World Female Athlete of the Year.

The 26-year-old, who won gold in front of her home crowd at this year's London Games, is in contention for the award alongside American sprinter Allyson Felix and New Zealand shot putter Valerie Adams.

Golden girl: Jessica Ennis won the heptathlon at the London Olympics

Felix was a double Olympic champion with victories in the 200m and 4x400m relay, while 2008 Olympic champion Adams was awarded a second successive gold after Nadzeya Ostapchuk was stripped of the title following a failed drugs test.

The shortlist for the men's award was announced on Monday, with Usain Bolt, Aries Merritt and David Rudisha in contention.

Done it! Ennis will now hope to be named Athlete of the Year

The winners of both categories will be announced on November 24 in Barcelona.

Early return to work for Fergie after seeing Manchester City snatch the title from United

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UPDATED:

18:16 GMT, 15 May 2012

Sir Alex Ferguson was back at his desk early on Monday morning plotting how to swing the Premier League balance of power back in Manchester United's favour, David Gill has revealed.

United thought they had pipped Manchester City to the Barclays Premier League title on Sunday evening after beating Sunderland but a dramatic injury-time winner from Sergio Aguero against QPR broke the Red Devils' hearts in the most cruel fashion.

Just another day: Sir Alex Ferguson was back at his office bright and early

City striker Carlos Tevez rubbed salt in to the wounds last night when he brandished a sign saying 'RIP Fergie' during the club's open-top bus parade through Manchester.

But while the blue half of the Lancashire city have been celebrating, the red half have been planning how to stop Roberto Mancini's men from dominating the English top flight for years to come.

Gill said that a number of transfer targets had already been shortlisted and the United chief executive reckons Ferguson is keen to bounce back immediately by securing their 20th title next term.

'He didn't sleep much on Sunday night. None of us did. He was in the office at 7.30 on Monday morning already thinking about next season,' Gill said at the Premier League 20 Seasons awards in London today.

'We have to get on with it now. We can't look back and feel sorry for ourselves. We have started planning for next year. We will come back fresh and I am always confident with this manager.'

Here come the girls… BBC defend all-female list for Young Sports Personality of the Year

The BBC has denied engineering an all-female shortlist for the Young Sports Personality of the Year to compensate for the absence of women up for the main award.

There was outrage last week when no females were included among the 10 candidates for Sports Personality of the Year. But the junior award will go to Lucy Garner, Eleanor Simmonds or Lauren Taylor, who are all 17.

Enlarge

Water star she is: Eleanor Simmonds is a candidate to win the award

In the swing: Lauren Taylor

The judging panel, chaired by BBC presenter John Inverdale and including representatives from the Youth Sports Trust and the Sports Personality production team, chose a shortlist of five girls and five boys on Monday, November 21, which waswhittled down to three athletes on Tuesday.

Garner became junior road race cycling world champion this year, Paralympic swimmer Simmonds won four medals at the European Championships and Taylor became golf’s youngest winner of the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush.

A BBC statement said: ‘Young Sports Personality of the Year is an entirely separate award and is given to the most outstanding young sports person of the year, according to the judging panel.

‘The achievements of the three shortlisted sportswomen fully merit theirselection. The judging process is independently verified.’